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To the sounds of distant laughter, the sun filtered through diamond-paned windows and cast its glow onto the cobblestone floors of Miss Hardbroom’s potion classroom. The scent of dew on grass lingered after the rainstorm the night before. “April Showers,” they called it.
Miss Hardbroom used to hate the rain—it was too dreary even for her taste—but a certain little girl told her that rain was very good weather for ducks. She’d pressed her face against the window last night, two small hands on cold glass, and mused about the family of waterfowl she’d once seen in a pond by the castle.
Miss Hardbroom also used to hate the mess that came with rain, but that same little girl claimed she liked how squishy the mud felt beneath her rainboots. Mildred had tracked it onto her floors the other day and the potions’ mistress was made to chase her all throughout their quarters with a towel.
She breathed a deep sigh to clear her head and flipped through the next test, in which an unfortunate third year had mistaken goose grass for grizzly grass, and grizzly grass for goose grass. Her hand lifted a red pen and scribbled a number that her student would surely be unsatisfied with. Unbeknownst to her, another, much smaller hand reached up and tangled itself in the midnight fabrics of her dress.
That hand then proceeded to sprinkle glitter into the threads of these fabrics.
“Mildred—“ Miss Hardbroom started, setting down her pen and turning sharply in her seat, but the girl blinked up at her with bright, amber eyes and all the innocence of a dove. She was only as tall as Miss Hardbroom’s waist, which was quite a thing to say given that Miss Hardbroom was sitting down.
Mildred simply stuffed her hand into the pocket of her sweater and manifested another handful of glitter. Without a care in the world for Miss Hardbroom’s baffled stare, she tossed more of the sparkling powder onto her skirts.
“Mildred, stop that.” The potions’ mistress hissed the words, but Mildred knew she wasn’t truly angry by the unique softness in her tone. “What are you doing?”
With her mouth occupied with a piece of candy (undoubtedly stolen from Miss Cackle’s jar), Mildred replied, “making your dress pretty.”
Miss Hardbroom breathed a quiet exhale. “By throwing glitter on me?”
Little Mildred nodded with the odd seriousness that came with childhood. “Do you like it?” Sticking her hand in her pocket once more, she revealed a sticker of a cartoonish star and pressed it onto Miss Hardbroom’s sleeve.
Miss Hardbroom remained seated and glanced down at her bedazzled clothes. Despite her best efforts, the faintest of smiles crept onto her lips. “Very much so,” she admitted, shifting in her seat to slip her hands beneath Mildred’s arms and lift her onto her lap. “Mildred, you mustn’t be here.”
Ignoring her chides completely, the child proceeded to grip her pen and scribble a flower onto the edge of one of the students’ tests.
After a moment of observation, Miss Hardbroom took the pen from her and doodled another flower beside it. Mildred giggled quietly at her actions.
The woman took note of the way Mildred’s hair shifted with her laughter. “Didn’t I just comb your hair?” she murmured, lifting a hand to smooth the curls that had popped out of the two braids she’d woven that morning.
“I was catching frogs with Miss Bat.” Mildred now took hold of Miss Hardbroom’s other hand and fidgeted with her painted nails. “We got three, but we let them go because it’s good manners.”
The potions’ mistress cracked yet another smile and turned over her hand while the small girl inspected her nails. “And you know all about good manners, don’t you, Mildred?”
As the girl shot her the cheekiest look over her shoulder, Miss Hardbroom shook her head and sighed fondly. “Oh, you little rascal. Run along now; Class is about to start.”
Mildred shuffled off the woman and scrambled towards the door. Just before passing the threshold, she beamed and shouted at the very top of her lungs:
“BYE!”
Miss Hardbroom returned to her paperwork and scoffed with amusement. “Goodbye, Mildred.”
“I’ll see you later, okay?!”
“Yes, Mildred!” She straightened her documents using the surface of her desk. “Now off with you.”
“I love you!”
Miss Hardbroom spared her a brief glance and a smirk. “Yes, I love you too.”
“How much?!”
At her words, the witch twisted in her chair and managed to stretch her arms out in demonstration. She found that the more she humored Mildred like this, the less awkward it felt.
Satisfied, the little hellion bounded into the hall. With every step she took, the lights on her sneakers flickered in multicolor.